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Richard J. Bortnick, J.D.,
Cozen O’Connor. Bortnick
concentrates his practice in directors' and officers' liability,
securities fraud, professional liability, cyber and technology
risks, insurance coverage, products liability, employment practices,
and commercial litigation. He frequently writes and lectures
on various matters relating to liability and insurance coverage
issues. Bortnick currently serves as a member of the executive corporate
committee of the Franklin Institute science museum and is on the Steering
Committee for PLUS's Mid-Atlantic Chapter
Gary R. Shendell, J.D., is
the former founding shareholder of the Fort Lauderdale office
of Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin,
where he concentrated his practice from 2002-2006 in complex insurance
and commercial litigation. He serves as managing shareholder for
S&P, and his insurance litigation practice includes the defense
of professionals: attorneys, accountants, architects, and engineers,
directors and officers, brokers-dealers, insurance agents, fiduciaries,
real estate agents, and title agents. He lectures on accountants'
liability and risk management issues before numerous groups and
firms throughout South Florida.
Shendell also prosecutes and defends first party and third party
coverage matters, including recision issues. He has experience
in monitoring complex matters for excess insurance carriers. He
has assisted clients and carriers in their compliance with Florida's
Insurance Code in order to avoid potential waiver of defenses.
He also provides insurance coverage opinions, and when required,
pursues actions for declaratory relief. Shendell has been involved
in insurance regulatory affairs nationally.
Shendell devotes
considerable time in matters of complex commercial litigation,
including disputes in the areas of construction, contract, fraud,
deceptive trade practice actions, and business torts. His
construction litigation practice has involved a wide variety of
construction related issues, including: construction and design
defects, disputes among owners and contractors, indoor air quality,
and mold. Shendell utilizes his experience in tax probate and estate
planning in the probate litigation arena as well.
Shencell is
a 1987
graduate of James Madison University where he received his bachelor
of science degree in Accounting. He obtained his juris doctorate
in 1992 from the University of Miami School of Law. He is admitted
to the bars of the State of Florida and State of New Jersey.
He is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court,
the Federal Southern, Middle and Northern District Courts of
Florida, and all Circuit and County Courts in Florida.
William
Feldhaus, Ph.D, CPCU, CLU, is
an associate professor of risk management and insurance in the
J. Mack Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University.
Feldhaus is a member of the American Risk and Insurance Association
(ARIA), Southern Risk and Insurance Association (SRIA), Western
Risk and Insurance Association (WRIA), Risk and Insurance Management
Society (RIMS) and CPCU Society. Over the years he has been very
active in the local chapters of the CPCU Society and RIMS, chairing
numerous committees and serving as an officer and director.
He is past president of SRIA and the CPCU Society Georgia Chapter.
He has been widely published regarding his research activities
in risk management and insurance. Feldhaus served as editor
of The Hold Harmless Agreement, a popular reference book published
by the National Underwriter Company. He is the coordinating
author of two texts on surplus lines insurance—Surplus Lines
Insurance: Principles and Issues and Surplus Lines Insurance
Practices. He authored Risk Retention Groups and Risk-Based
Pricing Factors for Property-Liability Guaranty Funds, research
projects of the CPCU Society Georgia Chapter. He was a contributing
author of a research study for the United Nations (UNCTAD)
on risk management in developing countries. Feldhaus has served
as an educational consultant for a number of organizations
including NAPSLO and PLUS. He was instrumental in the development
of the Associate in Surplus Lines Insurance (ASLI) and the
Registered Professional Liability Underwriter (RPLU) professional
designation programs. Feldhaus is a well known speaker to numerous
industry groups and corporations.
Feldhaus received his B.A. from Miami University and his M.B.A.
and Ph.D. degrees from Georgia State University.
Deborah
K. Ropelewski, CPCU, AU, ARM, ARe, CPIW, is director of education for PLUS.
Ropelewski has been involved in the Professional Liability industry
since 1983. She served as a senior underwriter for two national
Medical Professional Liability carriers, working with both physician
and facility business before joining a major broker in 1987. She
spent 19 years as a reinsurance intermediary and was with Arthur
J. Gallagher’s healthcare group immediately prior to joining
the PLUS staff in late 2006. Ropelewski holds a B.S. in business
from Virginia Tech, as well as the Chartered Property and Casualty
Underwriter; associate in Underwriting, Risk Management, and Reinsurance
(AU, ARM, and ARe); and Certified Professional Insurance Woman
designations.
She has been
involved with the Registered Professional Liability Underwriter
Program since 1993, having served as the chairman of the RPLU
Committee, and also as the curriculum committee co-chairman. Ropelewski
helped found and served as co-chairman for the PLUS Medical Professional
Liability Symposium in years 2001-2003, and was elected to the
PLUS Board of Trustees in November 2003. She assumed the role
of PLUS director of education in September, 2006. Ropelewski
serves on the Insurance Liaison Committee for the Tommy T. Martin
Chair of Insurance at Middle Tennessee State University, and is
vice president-education for the
CPCU Society's Middle Tennessee Chapter.
Gary R. Shendell,
J.D.
Shendell & Pollock |
